The present invention relates in general to the control of a voice activated cellular phone and, more specifically, to providing a common housing for a manual pushbutton control and a voice input microphone.
Voice recognition has been and continues to be developed to provide input to electronically controlled systems in response to spoken commands. Voice responsive systems are useful in automotive vehicles to control vehicle accessories with minimal effort, minimal errors, and maximum convenience. As used herein, vehicle accessory means any system controlled by an occupant of a vehicle such as a cellular phone, an audio entertainment system, a climate control system, a vehicle lighting system, a windshield wiper system, a window defrost system, or a vehicle speed control system, for example.
A voice recognition unit receives a speech input by way of a microphone in the form of an utterance which is compared to preprogrammed and stored utterances to determine a match that identifies an appropriate command. The reliability of matching an utterance with the intended command is related to ambient background noise contained in an utterance picked up by the microphone and to the size of a corresponding command set with which an utterance is to be compared. In a typical voice recognition unit, the degree of similarity between a received utterance and the preprogrammed utterances is designed to provide optimum voice recognition performance without errors. However, it is known to require an even closer match in certain comparisons to avoid a problem known as "falsing", which is unintended actuation of a command such as the powering on of a system leading to annoying or incorrect operation.
On the other hand, when such a closer match is required it may become difficult to activate a desired command in a noisy environment--especially for an utterer other than the one who trained the recognition unit. Furthermore, voice characteristics or habits of a particular user may be somewhat inconsistent, thereby making voice control difficult.
Co-pending application Ser. No. 07/975,047 solves these problems by providing a single button means for generating a button signal in response to a manual activation. The button signal initiates multiple control functions depending upon the respective state of the controller. One function of the button signal may be to bypass the spoken command requiring a closer match.
The present invention has the advantages of increased system integration, reduced manufacturing costs, and improved ergonomic performance for a user.